§ 35. Mr. David TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in improving services which will cut the incidence of coronary heart disease. [147364]
§ Yvette CooperThe National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease, published in March 2000, is a radical and far reaching programme which covers the whole spectrum of care from prevention of heart disease, through emergency care, primary and specialist care including heart surgery, and rehabilitation.
The national health service and partner agencies are asked to identify areas of inequality, undertake health impact assessments, and to agree and be contributing to the delivery of the local programme of effective policies on reducing smoking, promoting healthy eating, increasing physical activity and reducing overweight and obesity by April 2001.
Much progress has already been made in improving and expanding services which will cut the incidence of coronary heart disease. By 31 March 2001 a smoking cessation service will be in place across the NHS. Bupropion, a smoking cessation aid, has been made available on prescription since June 2000. By 1 April 2001, subject to consultation, nicotine replacement therapy will be available on prescription from general practitioners. In the future we will expect cessation services to focus on manual socio-economic groups and pregnant women and have set health authorities targets.
As part of the strategy to promote healthy eating and reduce overweight and obesity the Department has started to pilot the National School Fruit Scheme. Currently 32 schools in three areas provide a free piece of fruit every school day to every child in nursery and aged four to six in infant schools. Hundreds more schools are soon to run the programme as part of the next phase. The Department is also funding local five-a-day pilot schemes to develop a local co-ordinated approach to increase the availability and awareness of fruit and vegetables across whole communities. The Department will publish a National Quality Assurance Framework on GP exercise referrals in February 2001.
But the root causes of coronary heart disease are wider than health. Broader Government policies on poverty, employment and education all play a significant role in tackling coronary heart disease. There will be new national health inequalities targets to narrow the health gap in childhood and throughout life between socio-economic groups and between the most deprived areas and the rest of the country.
511W